More than what it seems
by drumer girl
Summary: mud wars, silly string, Hogsmeade,late night escapades,death eaters, friends, enemies, pranks and more. Lily and James are best friends. but will it end up being more then that? R&r! :HIATUS at the moment!
1. mud puddles and contracts

**

* * *

Disclaimer- I'm not releasing a book on July 16th. So no, I do not own Harry Potter and friends or foes.**

**Dedication - to my new editor- Laura!!**

**A Little More**

**Chapter one**: **Mud puddles and contracts**

**"Wacha thinkin' about Prongs?" **

**"Nothin'."**

**"You're lying on your back, staring into space, Prongsie boy, there must be something you're thinking about."**

**"He's obviously thinking about Lily."**

**"Hmmm?" James asked, at the mention of Lily's name.** **They all burst out laughing. **

**"See! I told you he was thinking about Lily!" **

**"Shut up Remus," James grunted, not even lifting his head from the grass to look at them.**

**"Sure Prongs."**

**"It's true! I'm dead serious. I was NOT thinking about Lily," James said matter o' factly. **

**"I'm gonna look like that when I'm dead?"**

**"Padfoot," James said "those jokes are so old I can smell them rotting." Sirius only grinned and nudged James' shoulder with his foot.**

**"You know you love them Prongs."**

**"No, I don't."**

**"Yes you do."**

**"No, I don't."**

**"Yes you do."**

**"No, I don't."**

**"Okay okay. Break it up you two." Remus said, "as much as I'd love to waste my time watching you argue, James has to get to Quiditch practice. That's why we came over to get you James, so you wouldn't be late," he said, looking pointedly at James. **

**"Quiditch?" James quirked an eyebrow. "Quiditch isn't until 6:30."**

**"It's now 6:27" A look of horror passed over his face. He jumped up and sprinted towards the pitch.**

**

* * *

**

**"Hey Lily!"**

**"Oh, hey Christina. What's up?" Lily slowed down as Christina caught up with her. Christina was a 3rd year Hufflepuff that she was tutoring.**

**"Umm, I can't get this one charm that we're working on."**

**"What is it?"**

**"It's a slowing charm."**

**"Oh. I see why you're having trouble with it. Slowing charms can be pretty complicated." Lily started explaining the theory, and then the wrist movement, and how to properly pronounce it. **

**"Ok. Now lets find something you can practice on." Lily glanced around for a couple seconds before she saw exactly what she wanted.**

**"Try it on that boy over there. The one with black hair and glasses."**

**"He won't mind, will he?" **

**Lily grinned maliciously."Oh, we're old friends, he won't mind."**

**"Ok," Christina said slowly. Lily was a great tutor, but she was really scary sometimes. That look was notorious. She seriously doubted that this boy wouldn't mind.**

_**"SLAWDORSO!"**_

**

* * *

Finally he could see the Quiditch Pitch. Huffing and puffing, he continued to push himself. He may not care if he was late to class, but he had yet to be late for a Quiditch practice. And he only had 40 seconds to get there.**

**Suddenly his legs halted to a stop. But his upper body kept moving. Pretty soon he started to windmill. (Sounds funny huh?) In other words he started to wave his arms around like a lunatic. But it was too late; he was already heading face first towards the ground. Right before he landed a deep gooey mud puddle appeared in front of him.**

**"Good try Christina, but that wasn't a slowing down charm. You said _sladorso_ instead of _sladorsa_. It was an excellent halting charm though," Lily said through a giggle. As soon as she had realized that Christina had charmed him to stop completely, she couldn't resist adding a mud puddle to the package.**

**"Lillian Rose Evans! You had better get over here right now!" James said through a mouthful of mud. Lily walked toward him but stayed several feel away.**

**"Yes?" Lily answered innocently.**

**"Don't give me that look! Help me up."**

**"Fine," Lily groaned and stuck out her hand. Big Mistake.**

**"EWWWWWW!!!!!!" The whole student body probably heard her. "James! What'd you do _that_ for?!"**

**"Well, since you created this mud hole, I thought you should see how it turned out." **

**Lily grinned evilly. "I guess you're right. I would be a horrible person if I didn't share though." She picked up a glob and shoved it down the front of his shirt. James got up and staggered back ward. **

**"You did not just do that."**

**"I think I did Mr. Potter."**

**"You are sooo dead."**

**SPLAT! "Ewwwwwwwww!!! You guys! I don't care if you role in the mud, but I don't want to!" Christina ended up with a mud glob on her chest.**

**"Oops, sorry. I was aiming for Lily."**

**"You're gona get it now James!" screamed Lily **

**"You're on!"**

**Soon they were throwing mud all over, including Christina.**

**

* * *

"Where could he be? He's NEVER late to practice," said Arthur Weasly, a 7th year beater. He would have been captain, if James weren't on the team. But there was no doubt in anyone's mind-James was the best man for the job. Even if he _was_ a 6th year.**

**"I'm starting to get worried guys. James wouldn't miss a practice if he had to crawl through a pit of snakes. And you know he hates snakes," said Rachel Bell, a 6th year chaser, who also happened to be James' cousin.**

**"Like he'd ever admit to _that_," someone muttered. **

**"You're probably right Elise," Rachel grinned. "Maybe we should go look for him. He's 10 minutes late already. Something might be wrong."**

**"Yeah. Lets go." **

**"James! You didn't show up to practice for this!?" Rachel yelled. She looked down upon the scene. Lily, James, and Christina were covered in mud from head to toe. **

**"I'm sorry guys, I guess I got a little side tracked." He faked a glare at Lily, but his mouth twitched, so the whole attempt was in vain. **

**"A little? This is NOT a little!" Arthur snorted. Rachel was too funny sometimes. She whirled around to face him, fury shone in her eyes. "Do you find this _funny_ Arthur?"**

**_God, she is soo hot when she's mad,_ he thought. "Of course not. I just had an itch that's all." **

**She glared and spun to face James again. "You realize we just spent valuable practice time because you get distracted when ever you're girlfriend is around? ("Hey! I'm not his girlfriend!" lily interjected) can't you snog on some one else's watch? Because you are wasting _my_ time. I could be finishing my potions essay right now. And I'm not gona let this slip. I'm going to go write your mum a letter right now." Satisfied with her lecture, Rachel turned on her heel and tried to walk away, but didn't manage.**

**Lily gasped. Rachel sputtered. "You did not just trip me Potter. You did not just pull me into the mud." James smiled with satisfaction. He knew she'd forget all about writing to his mum if he made revenge worthwhile. He hadn't spent all those nights alone in his room grounded for nothing.**

**"Potter."**

**"Yes Rachel dearest?" He knew exactly what pushed her buttons.**

**"Get over here." **

**"I don't think that's such a good idea" James tried to take a step back, but was pushed forward by Lily, right into the not so loving arms of Rachel, who pushed him to the ground.**

**"I've got you Rachel." Lily said, who pinned James down, while Rachel pelted him with mud. James tried to protect his face, and started to wiggle around trying to get away from his attackers. To no avail. **

**After a couple minutes, "Should I let him go, Rachel?" **

**"Yeah, I think that's enough for tonight." Lily let go of James, and he jumped up and scurried backwards, coughing and spitting the mud out that had gotten in his mouth. **

**"Lily! How could you!?"**

**"Sorry James. Normally I would have helped you, especially since Rachel called me your girlfriend," Lily shuddered at this and shot a glare towards Rachel "But under said circumstances, I had to help her." **

**"Under _what_ circumstances? Cousin attacks- you help out attackee. It's that simple."**

**"I'm afraid it's not Jamsie, I signed a contract." **

**Just then, Arthur let out a strangled cry. Lily looked up and laughed. Bianca, another chaser, had Arthur by the ear and was pulling him toward them. He was whimpering. "That hurts! Let go! Please!!!!" **

**Bianca then pushed him forward. "Hey, you guys- sorry to break this up. But I found him," at this she jerked her head towards Arthur "silently guffawing back there at your" she pointed at Lily and Rachel, "expense." **

**"Oh was he?" Rachel looked him up and down, as if assessing him, grinning maliciously. "Well, what should we do with him?" **

**"Hey!" James intercepted "what's all this about ganging up on us! First it's me and now it's Arthur? What have you girls been doing? Watching old gangster movies?"**

**meanwhile **

**"Hey! Sirius! Remus! Over here!" Sirius and Remus had come up behind the group. Tim (the griffindoor Keeper, and a 5th year) wanted to make sure he got to them before the girls could. Now that Elise had joined their ranks, he knew that they needed to be stopped. "Hurry! The girls are ganging up on us! We have to plan an attack! Oh, and why weren't you at practice today Sirius?" **

**"Oh," Sirius laughed. "I had a detention. I put a dung bomb in one of the girl's toilets. It blew up when someone flushed it." He snickered loudly, "it was so hilarious to watch the girl come running out, screaming." **

**"Who was it?" Tim asked. **

**Sirius let out a barking laugh "some first year Hufflepuff." **

**Tim grinned widely. _Classic, _he thought. **

**"Any way-what's this about planning an attack?" Remus smiled maliciously. _Anything to get Bianca back, _he thought. **

**"Moony, my boy! I _knew_ you had it in you!" they then huddled together.**

**Back to the girls**

**Rachel ignored him. _What is he blabbering about anyway? A smoothie? Or maybe he said a movie? "_Anyway- Elise-what should we do to them?" (Oh, so now it's them? Gona attack me too hmm?) "Shut up James." Lily lightly hit him on the shoulder. **

**"Well…" Elise began, "I think we should…" she was interrupted by a glob of wet earth hitting her in the back of the neck. Pretty soon there was mud flying everywhere, hitting the girls mercilessly, while the boys sat back and watched.**

**"Great spell Remus," whispered Tim **

**"Thanks. Used it in a snowball fight once." **

**

* * *

Later on at dinner, sitting at their usual spot at the Griffindoor table, one of Lily's best friend's complained loudly. "I can't believe I missed it! I just _had_ to decide to stay inside today!" She groaned.**

**"Don't feel too bad Abbs. They got us REALLY good. I never did figure out how to stop them. The mud chased us all the way to the dorm. I just shut the door before it could get in," Lily looked relieved. **

**"Still!" Abby said, "we haven't had a good mud fight in ages!" **

**They continued to talk until a certain Sirius Black showed up and sat across from them, James, Remus, and Peter in tow. Remus sat next to Sirius, James next to her, and Peter next to Abby. **

**Lily smiled brightly at them, "so Remus, great spell out there. Remember that one snowball fight a couple years back? The one we had at James's house?"**

**"Yeah, that one where we made the igloo?" **

**"Yeah, that's the one. Didn't you use the same spell then?" **

**"Actually," Remus replied, "I did use the same spell." **

**"Oh. I didn't think you would be able to use one spell for both snow _and_ mud." **

**"Oh yeah. You can use that spell for just about anything. It works differently depending on what you are using though." **

**"Oh I get it. Cool. Thanks Remus." **

**"No problem," Remus smiled slightly. Usually Lily would be shooting looks to kill right about now-especially at him. But she seemed to be in a very good mood. **

**"Wait a second, why are you being so nice?" Sirius exclaimed. "Usually you wouldn't even be talking to us." **

**"For you're information Sirius—I decided to forgive you guys. After all, it was only mud. Right Rachel?"**

**Rachel had come up a moment before and pushed James out of his seat and into the next one over so that she'd be by Lily. Rachel looked strangely at Lily. She had no clue what was going on, but she decided to go with it. "We have both decided that a mud fight is no reason to be mad." **

**"Wow." Sirius said. Things were finally looking up for him. "Great!" He exclaimed, "you know we hate it when you're mad at us." **

**"Sure you are," Lily answered sarcastically. But being Sirius, he missed the sarcasm.**

**James was confused. Lily had mentioned something about a contract earlier. She had said- 'Normally I would have helped you, but I signed a contract.' What was that about? He decided he would ask. "Lily?" **

**"Yeah James?" **

**"What contract did you sign that said you couldn't help me?" **

**Lily laughed, like she had been expecting James to ask her this. "A while ago- we (as in Rachel, Abby, Melissa, Victoria and myself) decided to make some rules." **

**"And . . .?" **

**"Sorry James, that's all you need to know." **

**"Hey! That's not fair! How long ago did you make these 'rules'?" **

**"Ummm, I think right before we had that prank war in 4th year." **

**Lily looked to her friends before nodding affirmative. She then stood and grabbed her cloak off the back of her chair. " I'll see you guys later ok? I've got to get to the library before it closes." **

**"Hey! Get back here! I want to hear about those contracts!" James called after her. **

**"Too late Jamsie, you know she won't say anything else. And I won't either," Rachel said as an after thought when she saw James' face. **

**"Oh come on! You're my favorite cousin!" **

**" You really think that's going to work?" **

**"It was worth a try." James said. He would just have to do some snooping later on. **

**"Family. Isn't it enough that I have to spend the holidays with him?" He heard Rachel mutter as she too left the table. **

**"Hey! Don't leave me!" Abby ran to catch up with Rachel. **

**"Okay James, they're gone. What's all this about contracts?!" ……**

**Author's note: hope every one likes it! School is starting the day after tomorrow so I'm not sure when I'll write more. REVIEW!!! I know you want to !! **


	2. Cloaks and Notes

Chapter 2

cloaks and notes

Late the next night Lily lay awake, starring out her window at the full moon. She couldn't sleep. She never slept on the night of a full moon. All she could do was think of how cold and alone Remus must be, out in that horrible shack.

In first year, she and James had been curious about it, so of course they had to go exploring. One night they crept out of the castle, and got into the shrieking shack by breaking a downstairs window. Luckily it wasn't a full moon, so all they found was old, torn up furniture, and a lot of dust.

But just the thought of Remus spending the night in that place made Lily shiver involuntarily. She could still remember the smell, and the musty taste in the air. The cobwebs and the moldy steps that moved with every step that you took. The bats that hung everywhere, and all the creepy crawly things that Lily was sure lived under the floor boards.

Lily slowly got up from the window seat, and tiptoed across her dorm, careful not to wake anyone. She then grabbed the book she was reading, and snuck down the stairs to the common room. Stretching out in front of the fire she propped herself up on some pillows and opened her latest romance novel. Slowly she started to dose, but her last thought before she slept was of Remus; cold, and oh so alone.

Little did she know that he wasn't alone at all, quite the opposite in fact.

* * *

Slowly the 3 boys tiptoed into the common room, closed the portrait hole, and threw the cloak off.

"I'm going up to get a couple hours of sleep guys. I'm dead tired, and I need my beauty rest." Sirius winked and started up the stairs.

James just rolled his eyes and was about to follow Sirius when he spotted Lily lying in front of the now burnt out fire. "I'll be right up Pete," he said to Peter who had also headed up the stairs to their dormitory.

"All right. Whatever," Peter said sleepily.

James walked over to Lily and gazed at her. She looked so peaceful; so beautiful. He took off his cloak and spread it over her, then bent down and kissed her forehead. He climbed up the stairs, and flopped into his bed. With his clothes still on and lying on top of the covers, he closed his eyes and fell asleep immediately, but not before a picture of Lily flashed through his brain, making him grin.

"Get up! We're late!"

"Have you seen my shoes?!"

"Where is my transfiguration essay? McGonagall will kill me if I turn in another one late!"

"GET UP PADFOOT! We're late!"

"Where could I have left it?! I didn't have it anywhere but the library and here!"

"Anyone seen my quik quotes quill?"

The 6th year boy's dormitory was in chaos the next morning. Sirius was dead to the world, Peter couldn't find his shoes, and Tim had lost his transfiguration essay. Not to mention James still hadn't taken a shower, or finished his history of magic homework on the Goblin Wars of the 1700's.

"Damn it Sirius! You can sleep all day for all I care!" James threw up his hands in defeat and headed for the shower. 10 minutes later, the dorm was still in complete disarray. And Sirius was still sleeping. James made one final attempt to flatten his hair, grabbed his bag, and ran down the stairs to grab his cloak from Lily. But to his dismay, Lily had already gone to breakfast and draped his cloak on the back of the chair closest to the hearth. He pulled it on, picked up his bag, and headed towards the Great Hall. Halfway down he discovered a small piece of parchment in his cloak pocket. _A note! She left me a note! _He thought excitedly, a wide grin covering his face. _Man, I am going completely insane_. James rolled his eyes at himself and unfolded the parchment.

_Hey James! Thanks for your cloak last night. I was up late worrying about Remus, and I guess I fell asleep in front of the fire. I feel so bad for him. I can never sleep on a full moon. Thanks again! Oh-and you might want to finish you're History of Magic essay during lunch, 'cause we have Binns today. (Even though he probably wouldn't notice even if you didn't show up. Lol) _

_Love, Lily_

James chuckled to himself. She definitely knew him too well. He hadn't even mentioned the essay since the day Binns had assigned it. His chest swelled at her signature. _Love, Lily_. It was so simple, yet had so much meaning. _Stop being an idiot James. You're turning into a total sap_. He shuddered. He didn't know what Lily was doing to him, but he didn't like it. Not one bit.


	3. Closets

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I swear.

Dedication: to my friends-who let me use our experiences and their clumsy mistakes in my stories.

Chapter 3

Closets

Lily woke up around 5:00 the next morning to voices coming from the portrait hole. She pretended to sleep so that they wouldn't think that she was eavesdropping. Until that is, she noticed that it was just the Marauders. _What are they doing out so late?_ She wondered.

She heard 2 of them walk up the stairs, presumably Sirius and Peter, then heard someone walk toward her. She started to open her eyes, but noticed that it was James. She immediately snapped her eyes closed for some unknown reason. He draped his cloak over her and leaned towards her. Her heart fluttered as he got closer. He softly kissed her on the forehead. She breathed in deeply as he lingered close to her for a second longer, so that she was able to drink in his scent. He pulled away and left.

Her stomach clenched as she let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. _What am I doing? I DO NOT like James like that! He's like a brother to me! Anyway, I'm not acting any different around him anyway. I just must have eaten something funny last night! That's all. Yes. I just ate something funny. _Lily turned over on her side, trying to convince herself of something she already knew was true.

* * *

_Dear mum, _

_School has been going great. We had this AWESOME mud war the other day. Lily started it, I swear! And no, I DON'T always blame things on Lily, Mum, they just usually happen to be her fault. (Let me guess. You're laughing right now aren't you? I know you to well.) Rachel almost blew a gasket the other day. And yes. It had something to do with the mud war. I won't go into it. It would be too painful. _

_Griffindor is going to win the house cup this year, I just know it. We have a great team. No one can get past our keeper, Tim, and with me plus the chasers, we're unstoppable. And yes- I know I'm not supposed to 'count my dragon eggs before they hatch' but aren't I allowed to get excited because we have a great team? _

_Me and Lil have been pretty busy lately, cause you know we have extra prefect duties, and have to patrol every other night. (Did I tell you we were placed together for patrolling? Yeah; for some reason, people think we 'work well together' dur. We've known each other how long? Of course we work well together.) And on top of that, the teachers are already talking about our NEWT's. Are they crazy? We still have a year to go. I've also been holding practice about every other night, so my schedule is pretty loaded. But don't worry mum, there's still time for pranks! You won't believe what Sirius and I did the other day to this Hufflepuff . . . never mind. I have to go finish a transfiguration essay. Say 'hi' to dad for me. And could you tell him to take it easy once in a while? I'd like him to live a little longer if he doesn't mind. _

_Love,_

_James_

James got up and started towards the owlery. It was pretty early for a Saturday, so not many people were up. James had woken up and couldn't get back to sleep, so he had decided to write his mum a letter that was well overdo.

He reached the owlery and looked through the wall length windows at the sunrise. He found a clear space to sit and leaned against a stone pillar, breathing in the morning air that streamed in. he remembered when he was little he and his dad used to go fishing. (The muggle way) They would get up before dawn, and be out in a boat just as the sun was coming up. It was beautiful.

James missed those times with his dad. Now that Voldemort was rising, his dad didn't have time for hardly anything but work. James resented him for it, but mostly felt a burning in his soul that wouldn't go away. As soon as he got out of school, he knew that he was going to be out there, fighting beside his father. He didn't want to end up a work alcoholic like his dad was, but it couldn't be helped. He wouldn't just sit there while some loon tried to take over.

James closed his eyes and breathed out. He jumped as someone sat down next to him, so close that their arms and legs were touching. He smiled as he realized it was just Lily.

"Hey Lils" he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear.

"Thinking about your dad?" She asked knowingly.

He looked at her and quirked an eyebrow. "How'd you know?"

Lily giggled slightly. "I know everything remember."

"Oh yeah. How could anyone forget that all powerful Lily knows everything? I must be an idiot."

"Of coarse you are."

"Hey!"

"You asked for it." She settled her head on his shoulder and sighed. James rested his head on hers and closed his eyes. This was where he was supposed to be. He just knew it. It felt so right. No; it felt perfect. Like he could sit there forever and ever and it wouldn't bother him one bit.

"What are you thinking about?" Lily asked him, unmoving.

"Nothing."

"Just as I suspected," she said with a grin.

"Hey! That's not what I meant!" Lily just looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye. She settled back down onto his shoulder.

"Remember when I was spending that summer with you? I think we were about 9?"

"Weren't your parents on a trip to Europe or something?"

"Yeah," Lily said with a small smile. "I remember being so upset that they were leaving me for 2 months."

"Yeah. I remember that. We got into so much trouble that summer." James laughed. His mother probably regretted ever agreeing to take care of Lily that summer.

"Remember Mrs. Callahan? She about fainted when we jumped her fence and ran through her yard," Lily said.

"But those garden gnomes were after us! What were we supposed to do?" James asked innocently.

"Well, she probably wouldn't have minded so much if the gnomes hadn't proceeded to knock down the fence, trample her garden, and scare that cat of hers into hysterics."

James stifled a guffaw at that last comment. "Hey, don't look at me. Sirius was the one that made them angry."

"I can't even remember what he did!"

"Didn't it have something to do with the niffler we found?"

"No . . . I don't think so anyway . . .I think the niffler was a different time . . ."

"Yeah. You're probably right."

Soon the sun was up and they could hear people heading towards the Great hall. They agreed to get some breakfast as soon as James mailed his letter. Charlie, his large eagle owl, was happy to have something to do, and swooped out the window as soon as James had the letter tied to his leg.

"Care to be escorted to breakfast malady?" James offered her his arm and she gladly took it.

"This is nice. Finally getting the respect I deserve." Lily said jokingly

"Well in that case . . ." James took a step away from her, leaving about 2 feet in between them.

"Hey! No fair!"

"You asked for it!" He said in a mocking voice, with a grin.

"_Ticklim_!" Lily said under her breath, her wand pointed at James. He was soon rolling around on the ground, clutching his sides, gasping for air and letting out small shrieks.

"Please . . . no . . . fair . . ." James said in between breaths. "You . . . know . . . I'm . . . ticklish"

"Of course I know. That's why this was the spell of choice," Lily said with a smirk.

"Please . . . take it . . . off . . ."

"Well, I suppose so." With a swish of her wand James had stopped shaking and had gotten to his feet.

"I'm gonna get you!"

"Not if you can't catch me!" James took a leap towards her, and with a shriek, Lily sprinted down the stairs, James hot on her tail.

* * *

"Hi Professor." James said with as much innocence as he could muster.

"Professor . . . we're so sorry . . . We didn't mean to . . ."

"It's ok Miss Evans. Just don't let it happen again. And try to refrain from running in the halls." Professor McGonagall cleaned off her now coffee stained blouse, summed her books into her arms, and charmed her coffee back into her mug which then proceeded to follow her in mid air. Lily and James walked into the entrance hall; laughing, relieved that McGonagall hadn't given them a detention for running into her. Literally.

* * *

First plan of attack: Interrogation

"So Lily, what's been going on lately?"

"Ok Sirius; what do you want?"

"I can't just ask how my best girl's doing?" Sirius asked, looking hurt.

"Ok, now I know you want something." Lily turned to face him, her eye brows raised and tapping her foot. Sirius knew that there was no help for him now.

"Well, me and James and Remus and Peter were . . ."

"Get on with it Black."

"We were wondering if we could get some information from you."

"Oh? Information? What kind of information?"

"Um . . . information about those contracts actually . . ."

Then there was a long pause. Until Lily started laughing maniacally, then abruptly stopped and said "you're joking right?" she gave him a smile that said 'like I'd really tell you anything'. She then walked away confidently, like no one could shake her.

"Hey Rachel" Peter said, walking up to her in the library. She was buried under a pile of books at a small table in a corner.

"Oh, hey Peter. I'm kind of busy. Can it wait?" Peter stuttered and looked behind him. A hand appeared in midair, giving him a thumbs up. Peter took a deep breath. "Iwaswonderingifyouwouldtellmeaboutthecontracts."

"Sorry Peter, I couldn't understand you. What did you say?"

"I was wondering if you would tell me about the contracts."

Rachel chuckled. "Smart move James. Why don't you join us?"

When no one appeared Rachel frowned and said: "You don't want to make me mad James. Sirius, I know you're under there too. And Remus as well. If you don't come out from under that cloak now, you know I'll eventually find you later." Still, no one appeared.

"Fine James. Be that way. Peter, I'm sorry you had to come all the down here. Oh, by the way, I know about that vanishing cupboard you guys found in 2nd year. I'd hate to lose a cousin to that thing. You know, I heard of a Slytherin once that accidentally got lost in it. He reappeared in the middle of the Siberian dessert. Had to kill snakes and eat them to stay alive."

James was as pale as a ghost. Rachel knew how much he hated snakes and was clearly using the information for her advantage. James tried to slowly backup toward the door, dragging Remus and Sirius with him. Incidentally, they ended up backing up into a table, flipping upside down, and landing in a heap on the floor. Rachel just chuckled. Peter attempted to help Remus up off of Sirius, who was shrieking loudly about his pinkie toe being crushed by Remus' large elbow. James, still white as a sheet, had backed away from the rest of them, his knees pulled to his chest rocking back and forth, whimpering.

"Great, now he's gone into his freaked out mode."

"Great! This is all your fault you know Rachel?" Remus said with a mock glare.

"Ha ha. Very funny Remus." Rachel sighed heavily "I guess I'll go get Lily." With that, she jogged out of the library and up towards the Griffindor common room.

* * *

Her friends had understood that she wanted to be alone, so Lily had spent most of the day by herself. It was nice that her friends weren't crowding her like they usually did on November 7. They normally would suffocate her until she couldn't stand it any longer and would end up screaming at them. Her classes seemed to take longer then usual, and by the time the final bell rang, Lily was ready to spend the rest of the night up on her bed, crying, and avoiding all the sympathetic looks that seemed to surround her; which only made it worse. When she got to her dorm she sat on her bed, and stared out the window.

Finally, she dug out an old photo album from the very bottom of her trunk, crawled under her covers, and gingerly opened the old album. Looking through it for the 100th time, she laughed and cried, memories flooding back to her. After an hour of looking through several more albums, and going through old shoe boxes, she angrily stood and threw the frame she was holding across the room, so that it hit the long mirror that hung on the back of the door. It broke and fell to the floor; shattered.

Lily punched her bed frame, bruising her hand and crying out._ Why did you leave me?! You said you'd ALWAYS be there for me! Where are you now then? _"**Where?!**" Lily screamed, collapsing to the floor and banging her fists on the stone. She broke down, sobbing, shaking with fury, love, hate.

Slowly, after sometime, she picked herself up and repaired the shattered frame that had no doubt been broken as many times as her heart, yet looked brand new. Lily flopped down on her bed, drew a shaky breath, and pressed her face down into her pillow, so hard that it almost hurt. Silently crying, Lily fell asleep, to dreams that no one should have to dream.

Rachel went straight up to their dorm, as she knew that Lily would be there. If it was any other day, she would have galloped up the stairs, thrown open the door and bounced into the room. But it wasn't any other day.

Lily rarely cried. She was the type of person that acted tough, smooth, collected, most of the time. But when Lily did show what was under her skin, she tried her hardest to not let anyone see. Rachel knew how vulnerable Lily felt, and as her best friend, she treated her like china.

* * *

Rachel eased the door open, peaking in through the crack before creeping into the room and tightly shutting the door behind her. Lily was lying face down into her pillow and was sleeping. Rachel was used to this. Lily went through certain stages each year. She would shut her self off from everyone, then look through all her memorabilia, then get angry, then finally cry herself asleep.

Rachel sat on the edge of the bed, put her hand on Lily's shoulder and griped it slightly, softly shaking her awake. Lily turned over and slowly opened her blood shot eyes. Her face was red and blotchy, and her cheeks were tear-stained. Rachel gave her a comforting smile, went to the bathroom and came back with a cool wet wash cloth. Lily rubbed her face, as if washing the grief away. She then slowly sat up and Rachel gave her a warm hug, and let Lily put her head on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Rachel whispered in Lily's ear.

Lily pulled away and said, "No, but I will be." Lily got up, grabbed a towel, and headed towards the bathroom. 15 minutes later Lily came out, her hair dripping, but looking refreshed. She smiled at Rachel.

"Have a nice shower?"

"Yeah," Lily replied quietly "showers always help. It's as if they can wash anything away. Sadness, grief, horrible black hair dye." She finished with a smile. Rachel laughed. Lily had once tried to dye her hair black because she was tired of her beautiful red locks. And she was joking around, which was a good sign.

"James needs us in the library. He's gone into one of his moods again."

Lily sighed "I guess. He really needs to get over his fear of snakes." She chuckled lightly. Lily rubbed her hair with a towel one last time, so that it wouldn't drip on her shirt, and headed out of the dorm, Rachel trailing her.

* * *

"Lily! Thank goodness! James has gone insane! We thought that if you didn't get here soon we'd have to take him to Saint Mungo's! Please help us! He's driving us to drinking!" Sirius took a swig of the butterbeer that he had stashed in his bag that morning.

Lily chuckled. "Sirius, don't be silly. Where is he?"

"He's hiding near that corner over there. By the flesh-eating plant section. Seems to think they've got him cornered." Sirius tried to hide a snigger.

Lily started towards the middle of the Library, while Rachel took a seat at the table that Marauders were sitting at. It was best if Lily took care this little adventure on her own.

Lily walked to the back of the Library and found James sitting in a corner starring off into space. She sat next to him and put her arm around his shoulder. "Hey James," she whispered into his ear. She knew the key thing to get him out of a trance was to make sure he could feel things, smell things, so he would know that his dream wasn't real. He shivered under her touch. Lily took no notice. She tipped her head to the side so that her wet hair brushed his cheek. He jumped at this and turned to look at her. She knew that he could see her, but he wasn't there. It was the way his eyes were glazed over.

He motioned for her to sit in front of him. Soon, she was practically sitting on his lap, James' arms wrapped around her middle, his head on her shoulder, his eyes closed. He was clinging to her, holding her as close as she could get. Lily leaned back, not really minding. She grinned to herself. As much as she hated to admit it, she loved sitting there with him like that. She felt safe, protected from anything that could harm. Soon, they had both dosed off, wrapped in the comfort of each other.

* * *

James woke up in the most comfortable position. He was leaning back against a bookshelf, with Lily leaning against him. His head was rested on hers, so that his face was in her hair. His arms were wrapped around her middle, and her hands were resting on his legs. He slowly opened his eyes and smiled. He had no clue how he had got there, but he didn't mind at all.

"Lily," he said in her ear. She stirred slightly and snuggled up to him. His grin only got bigger." Lily, wake up," he said softly. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "You're awake. Good. Any idea how we got here?"

Lily chuckled slightly as she got up and dusted herself off, to his dismay. "You went into one of your trances again. And you know I'm the only one that's able to snap you out of it. "Lily stuck out her hand and helped James to his feet.

"What time is it?" Lily asked. After they had gotten to the front of the library, they could see the windows, and the steadily darkening sky.

"I don't know. We probably missed dinner."

They quickly made their way to the double doors, but were highly disappointed to find that they were locked. Seconds later, the lamps went out. "Damn! It must be later then we thought. And that wacky librarian just installed those timed lamps!"

"What are we going to do?" Lily asked, a hint of panic in her voice. She definitely did not want to have to spend the night in the library alone with James. Normally she wouldn't have minded too much; she and the guys had spent the night out of their dorms before. But with these new feelings she was having, she didn't much fancy being around the object of her nervousness all night in a library.

James looked amusedly at her, his eyebrow raised. "Wow Lily, I thought you loved the library!"

"Hey!" Lily rammed into him sideways, causing him to stumble, almost knocking over a whole book shelf.

James laughed nervously and straitened himself up, but not before shoving Lily gently down another row. Soon they were chasing each other around the library, laughing their heads off and no doubtedly making tons of racket.

Lily had thought she had finally lost James amongst the shelves, but right as she reached the end of her row, James jumped out at her, causing her to scream and fall backwards. When James went to step over her, Lily tripped him. They ended up in a tangled pile with books on top of them. James got up first and pulled Lily to her feet. He kept hold of her hand, pulling her toward the very back of the library.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see in a minute. Suddenly James stopped, and Lily noticed they were right in front of Madame Pince's closet where she hung her cloak and various other things.

"_Alohmora_" The door swung open, and James pulled open the closet, pulling Lily in with him. _What are we doing in a closet? Why would James want to be in a closet with me? _At that last thought Lily mentally kicked herself.

"James; why are we in a closet?"

James shushed her. He waited a few seconds before saying anything. "Ok, for this to work we have to be closer." The closet was already really small, so they were pretty close anyway. But James pulled her foreword so that she was practically squished against him. She could hear his heart beating, and breathed on a mix of soap and something else she didn't recognize. She'd give anything to be in this situation any other time, but this was kind of weird. _I did NOT just think that_! She almost shuddered and shook her head, but stopped realizing that James would be able to feel it.

He looked down at her (he was quite a bit taller than her) and smiled cockily at her as if he knew what she was thinking. He wrapped his arms around her waist and said, "Okay, now step to the right, towards the wall on the count of 3. put your hands on my shoulders. That's it. Make sure we stay in contact. 1 . . . 2 . . ." He griped her tighter and " . . . 3." She stepped with him so that her arm was touching the stone wall.

Lily let out a small scream and James took a sharp intake of breath. Lily gripped his shoulders so hard that she hoped she wasn't leaving a mark. She was afraid that if she let go of James she would go spinning of into wherever they were. So she pulled herself closer to him; if that was even possible. A couple seconds later they landed hard in what seemed to be . . . another closet?

* * *

Author's note: that was a really long chapter! I didn't intend for it to be so long, it just turned out like that. Hope everyone likes it! R&R! 


	4. Chapter 4

**chapter 4!**

_Becca- I am not in denial! I DO NOT like Sirius like that! I mean come on, he's James's best mate. _**_And he_**_ has a new girl friend every other week for heaven's sake! I think he's going for a record or something. He wants to have a plaque made for him that says "Sirius Black, Womanizer", awarded for having dated every female to ever enter Hogwarts. Then he can have it hung in the trophy room and be a hero to all future pricks that think they're the best thing to grace this planet. I bet he's even taken McGonagall on a date _**_before_**_. I think I'll ask him too, I can just picture it. "Soo Black, how'd you're date with McGonagall go last night?" ewe! Bad mental images! How can you think I'd like such a gitt! Ugg. And you call yourself a sister! For the love of Merlin, I remember when we were like 4 and he ran around the house starkers! But anyway- James is doing great. Lily is doing as well as can be_ _expected-seeing as its November 7th. And that other person I'm not going to mention (I sooo do not like him!) is also doing well. But I swear he's going mad. No. Scratch that. He IS mad. He started this club last week called Skrewt Lovers Anonymous. You should have _seen_ all the girls that showed up. (And no. _I WAS NOT _one of them!) They were all crowded around him, hanging on to his every word. Some were even taking notes! For the sake of all evil monkeys, why would anyone start a club devoted to _BLAST ENDED SKREWTS? _Okay well Hagrid might (seeing as he's the one that bred them)but then Hagrid's never been all there when it comes to dangerous creatures! My point IS why would anyone in their right mind start a club devoted to Blast Ended Skrewts? Anyways, Remus is also good and so is everyone else. It's starting to irk me how Lily and James are always flirting and acting all lovey dovey and don't even relies it. I really need to do something about them. Its quiet obvious that they like each other. Hell, they've liked each other since 4th year! Any suggestions on how to get them together? It's really annoying listening to Lily talk about him _**_or mention him _**_all the time. "You won't believe what James did today!" "James told me…" "James has this weird theory…" "James and I did that once!" it's sickening really. And I think all of us would be much happier if they just quit all the talk and find a broom closet somewhere. Well, I should probably go. I have to finish an essay that's due tomorrow. 5 rolls of parchment! (Explain all the uses for gillyweed. I swear, who doesn't know all the uses for gillyweed? Sprout might not have assigned it to us though if Sirius and James hadn't started eating it and conjuring fish bowls full of water to stick their heads in. really; they act like 5 year olds sometimes! I can't wait to get married and change my name to something like Collins so no one can associate me with him.) Say hi to mum and dad for me._

_Lots of love, _

_You're not in love with Sirius Black, sister_

Rachel sealed the letter and sent it off with her snowy owl Luvenia, muttering under her breath about crazy family members. She took out some parchment and settled down on her bed. Had she not turned on the WWN she would have heard a loud thump come from somewhere in the wall behind the mirror.

**Previously(like on TV lol): **

Lily let out a small squeal and James inhaled sharply. Lily was gripping James' shoulders so hard that she was probably leaving crescent marks in his skin. She was afraid that if she let go of James she would go spinning of into nothingness. So she pulled herself closer to him; if that was even possible. A couple seconds later they landed hard in what seemed to be . . . another closet?

Lily and James landed with a thump in a small, dark, musty room that seemed to be some sort of closet. Lily was thoroughly confused by this, as they had just been in a **different** closet 3 seconds before.

"James. Where the heck are we?" Lily said, a note of annoyance in her voice.

"Don't sweat it Lil. We're just outside your dorm. See look behind you." Lily turned around, **and while **expecting to see a door that led to the hall way, but all she saw was a long window that looked into her dorm room. But that wasn't possible. There wasn't a window at this angle of the room. She could see the window from this angle!

"Jaaammmmeeesssss." Lily said slowly and drawn out. "What exactly is going on here?" James knew that tone, and knew it darn well. Even though he was a lot taller than she was, she seemed to be a million feet tall. when she used that tone. So he very quickly explained to her where they were.

"Well you see Lils; this here window is not actually a window. Have you ever heard of a one way mirror?" Lily let out a noise that sounded curiously like a growl. "Ok. You have. Well, did you notice that we are positioned right behind you're mirror? You're mirror is actual a one way mirror. It looks like a mirror from the other side, but people on this side you can see out through it like a window. Savvy?"

"Yes, I understand, but how could we have not noticed it before? I mean, we've lived here for that last 5 ½ years!"

"You wouldn't have noticed it, unless you tried to take it from the wall and then you would have discovered the opening."

"Hmm" Lily said thoughtfully. "How do we get out then Mr. smarty-pants?" she said with a playful look.

"At a certain time each day, a door appears on that wall. The passage leads to ride outside the kitchens. Don't ask me how though."

"What time does it appear then?"

"Uhh………12:00 midnight."

"James! You mean we have to wait for…."she looked at her watch "……4 ½ hours! Are you crazy! We have an essay due for Sprout tomorrow! And I still have 3 pages to write! At least in the library we could have done something! In here all we can do is sit!"

"Who said there's nothing to do?" He said with a devious grin on his face. She slowly turned to face him.

"Wait a minute...just how long have you known about this little passage **thingy**?" James quickly realized he had just dug himself into a big hole. He gulped audibly. "Umm….about 3rd year."

"And you come here often? Do you? Come to peep in on us?"

"No! We discovered it by accident! And we've only been 3 or 4 times!"

"Oh really?"

"Well, maybe a little more then 5 times, but we haven't been in here since the middle of 4th year; I swear!"

"Alright, I'll let you off...this time, but this won't be the end of it!" She sat down and leaned against one of the walls. James sighed with relief. He'd thought for sure that she'd hex him. _If she found out about some of the things we've seen, she probably would._ But he shook himself, trying to stop thinking about…..that.

"So, how'd you discover this? No doubt there's an interesting story behind it." Lily grinned up at him as he sat down next to her.

"Well, Sirius and I were planting some dung bombs in Ms. Pince's desk when Peter came to warn us that she was coming back from lunch. We could have gotten away sooner, if we hadn't started arguing about who had to carry the dung bombs back; you know they smell even before they're set off." Lily nodded and laughed, encouraging him to continue. "Well, before we knew it she was headed straight for her desk. We froze immediately. Luckily, she was reading a book and was so engrossed in it that she didn't even notice us! So when she looked away for a second, we dove into her closet. She stayed there all day so we couldn't get away without her seeing us. You know she gives the worst detentions of all the teachers. Well, we'd fallen asleep against the back wall. Peter was the 1st one to be transported. You should have seen him when I got there. He had nearly wet himself! He was huddled in the corner whimpering and shaking. Then Sirius appeared and landed right on top of me! It was quit confusing the first couple minutes. Peter was shrieking and I was yelling at Sirius to get off me, while Sirius was shouting at me that he couldn't move! I ended up having to untangle myself as Sirius had gotten 'beaten up' by the tunnel!"

By this time James was gasping for air and Lily was rolling on the floor laughing. " Turns out Sirius had been so freaked out **by **waking up in a swirling tunnel, he had started flailing and was covered in scrapes and bruises! It was so hilarious."

Lily and James spent the next 3 hours reliving memories of their childhood, and years at Hogwarts. Around eleven there was a lull in the conversation, but neither of them minded. They sat comfortably in each other's company; thinking their own thoughts.

After some time Lily sighed deeply and leaned her head on James' shoulder, letting a single silent tear slide down her cheek. James immediately noticed and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. She turned her head and cried into his shoulder. He knew that this would come eventually, and now that it had there was nothing he could do. She would talk when she wanted to.

A couple minutes later Lily pulled away from him slightly, yet remained in his arms. She drew a shaky breath and whispered "Do you know what today is, James? "Of course I do Lils, how could I forget?"

"Do you realize that it's been 4 years? It's been 4 years!"

She curled up and cried into his chest as another wave of tears over took her). They sat there together for sometime, before either of them spoke. "I just miss her so much. Sometimes I dream about us together, listening to music and talking and goofing around. I keep thinking that if I had been! There to protect her she would….she would still be here." James pulled back and looked her in the eye.

"Don't think like that Lily. There's nothing you could've done, if you had been there you'd be dead too. If I lost you,...I don't know what I would have done." He pulled her even closer and held her tight.

"I guess you're right. Sometimes I still think of what we would be doing if she hadn't been murdered. There's just too many 'what if's'. What if I had been there too? What if both of us had died? Or what if I had been there instead of her?" "We can't dwell on those things Lil, or else we'd go mad." He whispered comfortingly in her ear.

"But she was my sister,damn it! She was my bloody sister!" Lily banged her already hurt fist on the stone floor, making it sting even more. She began sobbing again into James shirt, his arms wrapped comfortingly around her. "And do you know what makes me feel even worse about the whole thing?" Lily whispered. "I wish that it had been Petunia James. I wish it so badly. I wish that Petunia had died instead of Iris."

After a while Lily got over her emotional crash and closed her eyes, leaning her head on James shoulder. (She was now sitting beside him.) He had an arm around her waist and was leaning his head on top of hers. Even under the circumstances, James couldn't imagine being anywhere but there, and felt privileged that he was the one that got to wipe away her tears and get her through this.

"I'm sorry. You must think me horrible now." Lily sniffed. James wasn't used to seeing her like this-she very rarely showed this kind of emotion (the crying anyway). But he loved her more for it.

"Of course not Lils. You have every right to feel like that." Lily sighed and looked up at James, her amazing emerald eyes glimmering with strong emotion. "Thank you James; for always being there for me."

Now there faces were only inches apart. Lily could feel his breath on her face. she had wanted this for so long, but something went off in her mind. Something that was close to a big flashing sign that screamed 'WARNING! WARNING!'

James' heart caught in his throat as Lily pulled away.

"I'm sorry Lily." His voice came out horse "I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't be taking advantage-" Lily cut him off.

"You weren't taking advantage of me James."

"Well, then I shouldn't have assumed that you….that you wanted to…kiss me." He barley whispered the last 2 words. He was sure that those words would permanently damage whatever he had ever had with lily. He could just see their relationship tumbling over I gigantic cliff. _What a stupid thing to say!_ He thought. And he had defiantly thought a lot about this. Probably more than he should have. _This is not how this is supposed to happen! _

Lily's head was spinning in circles. _WHY could I have not just kissed him! _She thought. _WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!_

Finally the 'closet' door opened and they were able to escape from their cage. After the 'kissing incident' as they were both secretly referring to it, little was said between them. Since they missed dinner, they headed to the kitchens together. While waiting for their food, James attempted to make small talk. "So…. My mom sent me a letter this morning. She said to tell you hi, and that if you overwork yourself like you tend to do, she'll personally come up here and bash your head in. But you don't have to worry about her bashing your head in, because she won't get the chance if I get to you first." They both laughed. _Ok. So far so good_. He thought. _Just keep her smiling. _

Lily lay in bed that morning (as it was already 3:00a.m.) and mentally kicked herself. The whole evening had gone REALLY horribly. Except for the first part, in the library; that had been quite good. It had actually been quite excellent until they had almost kissed, almost being the key word. During the last hour she had actually considered that she might like him. No, she realized that she REALLY liked him. But now that the moment was gone all she could think about was how stupid she was to have thought that she had WANTED to kiss him. I mean, come on. He was like her best friend! So, as she drifted off to sleep she decided that the best thing would be just to forget the whole 'kissing incident' because she was sure that James had done just that.


End file.
